causing real misery in towns and cities up and down the country, yet despite all the rhetoric and all the headline-grabbing announcements it’s now clear they have done very little to tackle the problem.’

In 2005, when the ADZs were first promised amid the outcry over the imminent introduction of relaxed licensing laws, the Home Office predicted 30 would be established in the first year.

The scheme was then hit by a string of delays, mistakes in the drafting of the law and other legal wrangles. The bar for declaring an ADZ was also set unrealistically high, according to critics, with ministers saying they should be used only as a ‘last resort’.

Under the rules, police must first give drinkers on-the-spot fines or ban louts from town centres. They must also make attempts to close down any problem pubs using the Licensing Act.

If this fails, they must amass evidence that a street or ‘zone’ is blighted by binge drinking. Officers - who are already struggling with mountains of paperwork - would have to produce details of violent incidents, relevant A & E notes and a CCTV incident log.

Even after this stage, rowdy premises must be given further chances to clean up their act, adding to the bureaucracy.

Last year Gordon Brown - admitting that 24-hour drinking was ‘not working’ - promised to give councils blanket powers to close pubs and bars in rowdy areas.

But when the legislation was introduced last month it was limitedto between 3am and 6am. A Daily Mail campaign, backed by police, doctors and judges, opposed 24-hour drinking and predicted it would prove a disaster.

Last year, there were 973,000 violent attacks where the offender was under the influence of alcohol - almost half of all such incidents.

Police have warned their resources have been stretched to breaking point dealing with fights in the early hours - leading to fewer officers on the beat during the day.

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Not one alcohol disorder zone banning drinking since Labour set up scheme four years ago